Sometimes, you need a lot of dessert. For most events that call for dessert, a simple pie or cake will do. But when you’re baking for a crowd — a serious crowd — you need to step it up. You can’t be in the kitchen all day making four cakes! You’re a modern woman with a job and friends you meet up with at the bar and cat videos to post on several social media accounts. So when you need to make a dessert for a whole crew, and some day you will need to, you need a go-to dessert recipe. Save the cookies for another day and make bars, which involve just one pan and can be sliced as large or small as you need.
Finish your party menu with one of these crowd-pleasing desserts. Here are 10 of them.
Apple Tart With a Cornmeal Crust
Is the apple your favourite fruit? If yes, this is perfect for your taste! Get in touch with your rustic side with this eye-catching apple tart made with a flaky, cornmeal-flecked crust.
Blueberry Rye Slab Pie
via food52.com
Though delicious, blueberry pie can present a serious dilemma when it comes to your filling setting properly. Spare yourself the angst and make a slab pie instead. Not only is it incredibly good, the thinner layer of blueberry filling will be amazing without any of the fuss.
Peach Slab Pie
Summer peaches are at their peak right now, so this pie basically tastes like sunshine. This thing might just make you a legend. There’s almost nothing better than a cookie sheet full of pie, especially one made with fragrant yellow peaches in all their summery perfection.
Peanut Butter Nanaimo Bars
The base is a wonderfully dense and chewy chocolate mixture that includes coconut and graham cracker crumbs. The base is topped with a peanut butter filling that reminds of a Reese’s peanut butter cup, and then a final layer of chocolate ganache is spread over top.
Cookies and Cream Sheet Cake
You can rarely go wrong with cake. So it stands to reason that a giant cake with cream cheese frosting that’s also scattered with crumbled Oreos will transform you into a baking legend. Don’t deny your destiny.
Chocolate Sheet Cake
via tastykitchen.com
If you want to make cake for a crowd but you’re a little worried about your butter intake, try this version, which swaps out Greek yoghurt for some of the butter without sacrificing any chocolaty wonderfulness.
Cherry Almond Sheet Cake
via bakeorbreak.com
Sheet cakes are a great way to feed a bunch of people at once, but in the summer, frosting can have a tough time holding up. Luckily this cherry almond sheet cake doesn’t need frosting to be a hit.
Lemon Shortbread With Chocolate Drizzle
via thelemonbowl.com
An elegant, understated dessert that shows just how sophisticated your palate is. Lemon juice adds bright, fresh flavour to these decadent buttery shortbread cookies. The salted chocolate drizzle takes each bite to the next level.
Apple Slab Pie
via myrecipes.com
Though cinnamon can be a divisive spice, it’s a proven fact that everybody loves apple pie. And an actual slab of apple pie is so good that you might not be prepared for all the adoration you’re about to receive.
Peanut Butter Caramel Toffee Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
via yummly.com
This is pretty much everything people like in a dessert except fruit: peanut butter, caramel, toffee, chocolate, and cookies. So it’s a guaranteed crowd-pleaser.